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Robert Spencer in FP: The King Is Dead, Long Live the King

Jan 23, 2015 7:20 pm By Robert Spencer

Saudi King Abdullah with Barack ObamaMistah Abdullah, he dead. The horror. The horror.

Abdullah was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Abdullah was as dead as a door-nail.

So what now?

The crown prince, Abdullah’s half-brother, Prince Salman, has taken over, but it might not be that easy. After all, it wasn’t too many years ago that people were speculating about what Egypt would be like under the rule of Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal. And the accession of a 79-year-old to the throne does not give the impression that the House of Saud is vigorous and ready to take on the numerous challenges it faces.

And it faces many. This is not an optimum time for a transition. The House of Saud has headed up an obnoxious regime that has spent billions to prepare the ground for the jihad that is now aflame all over the world, by propagating its virulent view of jihad everywhere. Now the Saudis’ massive expenditures to export the jihad doctrine have come back to bite them in the form of the Islamic State, a self-proclaimed caliphate that denies the legitimacy of the House of Saud (and every other government other than its own) and has vowed to conquer it (and every other country, but it is right on the Saudis’ doorstep).

The Saudis want the U.S. to take care of their Islamic State problem for them. They can’t easily do it themselves, because they have taught their own people the idea that the umma, the worldwide Muslim community, should ideally be ruled by a caliph, the successor of Muhammad as the political, military, and religious leader of the Muslims, and so if they move too decisively against the Islamic State, they might be facing an uprising from within. Several weeks ago, a Muslim cleric from Saudi Arabia was killed while fighting for the Islamic State. And Sheikh ‘Aadel Al-Kalbani, former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, has declared: “ISIS is a true product of Salafism and we must deal with it with full transparency.”

Salafism is what the Saudis have used their oil billions to spread throughout the world. And given the fact that Saudi Arabia’s plush rehab facility for jihadists has proven to be a spectacular failure, King Salman may be spending a considerable part of his declining years battling the jihadis to whom his predecessors gave their guiding ideology.

If, on the other hand, the Saudis don’t move decisively against the Islamic State, and Obama continues his cosmetic, face-saving airstrikes and continues to reject strong action of his own, Saudi Arabia may before too long be facing an invasion from without. Maybe not a full-scale invasion, but certainly an escalation of individual acts of jihad terror. In fact, Islamic State jihadis killed three Saudi guards at the Iraq border just a few weeks ago.

The Iranians, meanwhile, are always jockeying to become the leader of the Islamic world, and in that Saudi Arabia is one of their chief rivals. But Iranian-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels have just won a major victory in Yemen, and Iran has just concluded a military pact with Russia. This could be the Shi’ites’ moment, in a way that could bode quite ill for the House of Saud. Vladimir Putin is clearly trying to reestablish Russia as a world power, and he may think that the death of Abdullah provides him with a grand opportunity to weaken a U.S. ally (however unreliable the Saudis have actually been as an ally). Perhaps now would be just the time for an uprising of the Saudis’ considerable and harshly oppressed Shi’ite minority, emboldened by the Houthi example and backed by Iran.

Could the death of Abdullah be the Iranians’ moment? Or the Islamic State’s? Time will tell – but one thing it is almost certain not to usher in is a time of peace and stability.

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Filed Under: Saudi Arabia Tagged With: King Abdullah


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Comments

  1. katnis says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    Thanks for the write up. It’s hard to imagine that things could get worse.

    On a side note, Mr. President went to the funeral, but DID NOT ATTEND THE “UNITY” MARCH IN FRANCE??? I work for 1/3rd of every year just to pay my taxes, and this is how the president spends it? My blood is boiling!

    • Rita says

      Jan 23, 2015 at 7:41 pm

      http://hennessysview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/obama-bows-saudi-king.jpg

  2. Rita says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    Dr. Frankenstein-Saudi has created the monster IS and has been wetting it’s pants (or whatever they are wearing under their night gowns and Italian-Restaurant-Tablecloth-Headcoverings) ever since.

    Hence the shift in “news-reporting” by BBC (U.K.), RTL (France) ABC/SBS Australia and even the Deutsche Welle – who have been allowed for some time now by their bosses Al Jezeera to mention that IS are not really a humanist, tolerant, peace-loving outfit – and we even saw some timid criticisism emanating from those dhimmy, propagandist-Goebbels-style media outlets.

    They did, however, not go quite as far as accusing HAMAS, the close ally of IS of being a branch of the same rotten tree.

  3. gravenimage says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    Mistah Abdullah, he dead. The horror. The horror.

    Abdullah was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Abdullah was as dead as a door-nail.
    …………………………………….

    That Robert Spencer can always leaven his analysis of the appalling state of Jihad and creeping Shari’ah with erudition and even humor—here with references to Konrad and Dickens—is always much appreciated.

    Perhaps it would be apt to quote Shakespeare here regarding King Abdullah, who wrote in Macbeth, “Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it”.

    • gravenimage says

      Jan 23, 2015 at 10:59 pm

      I can’t believe I misspelled “Conrad”.

  4. Jackbo Godfrey says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    Great article. Love the Joseph Conrad reference. We need a “Colonel Kurtz” to go “tear assing” around Mesopotamia now and clean up the mess for once and all! Send Colonel Kurtz to the Peshmerga, now that would be a dream!

    • Jackbo Godfrey says

      Jan 23, 2015 at 8:34 pm

      To be clear, I meant send Colonel Kurtz to train the Peshmerga (Green Beret style like they did with the Montangards in Vietnam) and then they go “get medieval” on the Islamic State Daesh bags!

  5. jewdog says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Clearly, the Saudis and the Gulf states are desperate to eliminate Iran and the Islamic State as threats. That should give the West enormous leverage. Why not make a deal: We’ll invade and colonize Iraq and Syria with Westerners in exchange for our protection? Iraq is an oil rich state. The chaos in Iraq and Syria would make the task very easy. Eliminating the evil Islamic State would be morally justifiable, and colonization would secure those areas permanently. Also, if we controlled Iraq and Syria, we could easily keep Iran under wraps, or even conquer and settle part of it, helping to better secure the Gulf and the world from Iranian nukes. The Islamic empire has collapsed. It’s time to recognize and exploit that reality.

    • gravenimage says

      Jan 23, 2015 at 11:06 pm

      Somehow, I don’t see the West colonizing any part of Dar-al-Islam. I always look for your posts, but this simply isn’t something that is going to happen. Somehow I don;t see Westerners clamoring to settle in a dangerous JIhad zone, either—this would be true even if they were giving the land away.

      • umbra says

        Jan 23, 2015 at 11:51 pm

        Could try an entice all the leftist in the west to relocate there. That kill two birds with one stone – rid the west of self destructive leftist and let them turn (or try to turn) parts of the middle east into their kumabaya paradise. In all likelihood, they will just mess up the middle east the same way they have messed up the west, if they survive the ROP.

        • Ric says

          Jan 24, 2015 at 10:36 am

          I could not agree more. So many of the leftist persuasion loathe Western-Democracy; one would suspect they would be of great benefit, if freighted off to Iran or some other Rogue State i the Middle-East.

      • jewdog says

        Jan 24, 2015 at 6:51 am

        We might be able to interest the Chinese.

        • umbra says

          Jan 24, 2015 at 9:15 am

          Unlikely. They know the middle east is gigantic a hole, with the exception of Israel. They are only interested in the oil and gas there.

    • Salah says

      Jan 24, 2015 at 12:05 am

      @ jewdog

      “Clearly, the Saudis and the Gulf states are desperate to eliminate Iran and the Islamic State as threats. That should give the West enormous leverage.”

      Leverage? I think you didn’t quite get it yet.
      The Obama thugs, Iran and the Islamic State ARE ON THE SAME SIDE. They are ALLIES. They are working hand in hand to destroy each and every Arab country.
      They are cooperating with each other hoping to rule the region, then the new ruler, the “winner”, will try to eliminate his other “allies.”
      They all have one thing in common: TOTALITARIANISM.

      • jewdog says

        Jan 24, 2015 at 7:24 am

        I don’t have the Obama adminstration in mind in this plan. We need an administration that will go on the offensive against Islamic hegemony in an effective way. Are we going to watch passively while vast areas of the globe continue to fall under the sway of Islamic totalitarianism and anarchy? Only by conquering and settling Islamic lands will we prevail. Conquest has been the age-old method used to replace old systems with new ones. It is the only way with Islam.

        • Bukkdem Jizheads says

          Jan 24, 2015 at 4:04 pm

          Forbidding polygamy is the only way to pacify Muslims. Every extra wife equals a fanatic man willing to slay another man to get a wife. Satan (mohammed) willed it so as a way to conquer all others, and it’s been going on for 1300 years.
          He upended thousands of years of social/sexual balance and mutual respect, not to mention how to avoid inbreeding.
          He warped men into beasts, but unlike beasts who can only mate when the female is in heat, Satan’s man-beasts can rape their herd all day long and the females are helpless to resist.
          War, family dynamics and sex are intricately intertwined. This became evident to me when a news person asked GA white supremacist J.B. Stoner why he hated Jews, N-words and Catholics. The answer: “Cause, they want our women”.

  6. Salome says

    Jan 23, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    Does somebody understand the Saudi succession process? Does the next generation not get a look in until all its uncles have had a go?

    • umbra says

      Jan 23, 2015 at 11:54 pm

      al saud clan has several thousand “princes” along the succession line, theoratically (in practice, the one with the most firepower wins). This is rumoured to have something to do with multiple wives, concubines and perhaps sex slaves.

  7. albert says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 5:26 am

    Obama’s mate Good King Abdullah was starving four of his daughters to death because their mother had jumped ship and was hiding in London, ( is that acceptable to Obama? is it acceptable to the UN, we just had the year of the woman didn’t we ? ) Anyway does anyone think that Obama or his Muslim Brotherhood aides in the whitehouse might inquire as to their well being, sorry to bang on about unpleasantness like this but someone could, you know, send them a McDonalds or something, time was when I was a lad and we had leaders who were human someone might care.

  8. Tim Ireland says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 6:15 am

    How disgusting, the Australian government is flying our flag on half-mast for a tyran.

    • Judi says

      Jan 24, 2015 at 9:26 am

      So is the government of the UK, and Prince Charles and David Cameron have gone to the funeral. Absolutely disgusting!!!

    • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

      Jan 24, 2015 at 9:58 am

      Every time I hear about what’s going on in Oz, I think where am I gonna go when the USA succumbs.?There soon will be no haven for freedom. Given that the ruling elites of all free nations pursue the same pro-Moslem policy, the appearance is that such a policy is obviously correct. There will be nowhere to run to flourish in freedom, which will only leave the option of finding someplace to run and hide.

  9. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 9:45 am

    I mourn the King’s passing. The best we can do with Moslems is a good old fashioned dictatorship, one that seeks only to control and profit on a specific dar al-Islam territory. That was the King. Sure, he let 9/11 get funded and followed up with zero prosecutions of those in the royal family who funded it, but that the point, the man knew there were limits to the limits you could put on Moslems, and so he let that mass murder go.

    Now we’re confronted with having a new King of Arabia who is more sympathetic to the cause of Jihad for world conquest. Not a good old fashioned dictator, but a would be modern one.

  10. Sam says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 10:27 am

    OBAMA will not meet with Netanyahu but will visit Saudi Arabia for the funeral. We have a president who has no clue about anything that goes in the world. Shame on all liberals who still support and protect this idiot. He also wants no sanctions on Iran. He releases terrorists, does not want to secure borders. He gives amnesty to illegals. No sanctions on Cuba for Castros killing his own citizens for years. We still have American people protecting OBAMA. What is going on? Is this real?

  11. Michael McCallion Sr. says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    What is the protesters, mainly the “we have a ticket to ride” Ivy league University crowd who need an opportunity to burn off energy or sew their wild oats or whatever the priveledged/political class off spring SAY?
    It’s the oil; it’s the oil; basically trying to show some integrty and showoff what they have learned at the meal table. Then they graduate from “ticket-U” and realize the ride part is based on Oil interest.

    Doesn’t matter where they end up with their six figure or seven figure salary/bonus careers if the Oil interest controllers are not supported they won’t ride for free. It doesn’t matter if one is a Rhodes/Fulbrook Scholar or was born or weened into the “ticket-U” they recognize oil is the spigot to protect.

    Ergo! the funeral travelling “ticket to ride” will attend the funeral of all and any who maintains their Families access to the Ride. Cheers;

  12. Champ says

    Jan 24, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    Similar News …

    I just ran across this interesting headline:

    “US-Saudi summit in Riyadh to deal with pivotal issues of oil prices, Iran and Yemen”

    http://www.debka.com/article/24359/

    Excerpt:

    President Barack Obama, having decided to cut short the third day of his India visit, will arrive in Riyadh Tuesday, Jan. 27 with the First Lady, to offer US condolences on the death of King Abdullah and hold critical talks with his successor, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.
    He will want to clear the air most urgently on three controversial items of burning interest to both leaders: Riyadh’s flat opposition to the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and skepticism in the face of Obama’s conviction that a comprehensive accord will curtail the Islamic Republic’s drive for a nuclear weapon.
    Next, the US leader will try and persuade the new Saudi ruler to slow down oil production in order to put the brakes on plunging prices, an example which other OPEC members are sure to follow.
    Finally, Obama and Salman must decide how to handle the fall of Yemen into the hands of Shiite Houthi rebels, who have seized the capital Sanaa with Iranian support and brought down the US-Saudi-sponsored president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    What’s next? …tick, tock!

  13. MTMLA says

    Jan 25, 2015 at 9:20 am

    Will Moochelle wear her sleeveless dresses and show her well toned arms, or will she wear an abaya as a good muslima?

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